Spring is coming

Written 3-12-14

 

Buon Giorno Tutti!

So life is perking up and spring is coming.  So we had amazing things this week.  First off, last p day I started talking with a man, A. at our internet point.  He's from India and he speaks English perfectly.  I got his information and a few days later we booked an appointment with him and his family last night.  They are catholic but it was an absolute miracle lesson.  We taught in half English and Italian because his wife N. speaks Italian and their native language Malayalam (P.S. that word is a palindrome... I know awesome right?) and he speaks English.  The spirit was so strong and they accepted a book of Mormon and immediately promised to read it.  They said they would come to church if their daughter A. is feeling better (she had a cold) and that if they received a testimony that it is true they would be baptized.  They also live just down the street from us.  It was hilarious because we had to leave but he looked at us and said his wife was bringing us snacks and that "It's very rude to not finish your plate".  We couldn't finish an entire plate of dried banana chips but they asked what we liked and not gonna lie, a dinner appointment of fresh indian food would be divine.  We were on cloud nine after the lesson and they were smiling and repeatedly thanked us for our time.  We're crossing our fingers.  

So a shout out to all you Romanian missionaries that I miss.. we are teaching a woman named Anna.  I think she's from Bucharest but not quite sure.  Anyways we met her on the street but she wouldn't give us her number.  We finally ran into her the other day and got an appointment at the church.  We gave her a tour of the church and she just lit up when she saw the picture of Christ.  We gave her a Book of Mormon in Romanian (which she started reading out loud and it was the coolest thing ever to hear native romanian... you're language is awesome!).  She immediately said that she would pray to know if it is true.  Also she asked about our sacrament.  We said we use bread and water and she immediately launched into a spiel about how John wrote that blood and water, not blood and wine, came out of Christ when he was pierced.  She is sooo smart.  So she's in Romania this week so if you run into her tell her hi for us.  Hope all the work in Romania is awesome!

We're working with our less active D. and studying Preach My Gospel with her.  It was an awesome lesson.  She wants to learn and really grasp the material.  I'm hoping this will help her start coming back to church.

So my bike is officially broken.  The tire is bent, the chain is officially, falling off, the brakes are dying again and the seat is too short.  I didn't get in a crash or anything... It's just dying.  We may be on foot this week but who knows.  

So Monday we went to an awesome district meeting and then we were going to go to Albenga.  But Sorella Bennett felt like we should go back to Savona.  Lo and behold all our appointments fell through for Albenga so we had to go back to Savona.  It was a miracle day.  We saw 7 different investigators/less actives that we haven't seen in ages.  We just kept running into them and we got in tons of prayer lessons (a verse and a prayer).  It was a huge testimony to me that this is the Lord's work and sometimes he'll shake things up a bit.  We have to be in tune with the spirit to follow it.  

Thank you everyone for the letters.  They mean so much and are a huge strength.  You are amazing!

Sunday was a day of miracles.  We got cookies, Mimosa flowers, a card and a family drew a picture of me for Festa della donna or Women's day.  I was feeling a little discouraged and worried about a lot of things.  When I received the picture, it was a testimony to me of the tender mercies that we receive from our Heavenly Father every day.  

So I finally checked the scale and have gained about 10 pounds since I got here.  Go figure since everything is white flour, carbs, sugar and comes in mass quantities.  But I'm happy to report that I've found one effective way to combat the weight gain and it's working.  I've stopped drinking milk and eating cereal.  I'm already starting to lose the weight and stabilize a little more.  I still eat cheese and yogurt and gelato so I won't become lactose intolerant.  

So we met with W. and walked around Sportono with her.  We saw this house that was literally falling off a hill.  It was tilting and there were tons of police and specialist people every where.  It was pretty darn cool.

Last p day was amazing.  We went to the Duomo aka massive cathedral here in Italy.  The architecture, paintings, ceilings, furniture, everything was old Renaissance Catholic Italy.  It was absolutely stunning and blew my mind.  They even had the skeletons of prominent priests in these glass coffins... that was a bit morbid and creepy.  After that we went and got farinata with our English class.  We had 21 people crammed into this teeny restaurant.  Farinata is basically a flower cracker thing that is fried and it's either white or yellow based on the flour.  It was absolutely delicious.  We also had this goat cheese that was outstanding.  Food, cibo, buonissimo.  

The biggest thing I've learned this week is about the spirit.  I've been struggling to have the spirit with me constantly but through personal study and experiences, I've learned that when we pray and truly desire to have the spirit with us, Heavenly Father will bless us.  Through the spirit I've felt so much comfort, love and joy from Him.  Lessons have been going better and my confidence as missionary is increasing.  It's still hard work but it's going awesome.  

Love you all and miss you!

Scripture of the week:  3 Nephi 11:11

Word of the week:  Farinata (Far-ee-naw-ta)

Challenge for the week:  Change one thing in your life to be able to feel the spirit stronger.